Page 148 - Hunter - The Vigil
P. 148

E
                                                                      E
                                                                    C
                                                                          V
                                                                          V
                                                                      E
                                                                O
                                                                O
                                                                O
                                                                    C
                                                                  R
                                                                  R
                                                                          V
                                                                                   R
                                                                                   R
                                                                                 Y
                                                                                             C
                                                                                             C
                                                                                           (
                                                                              L
                                                                              L
                                                                            A
                                                                                 Y
                                                                                K
                                                                                K
                                                    T T A S K   FO R C E   V A L K Y R I E   ( C O N            )
                                                      A
                                                        S
                                                    T T TASK FORCE VALKYRIE (CONSPIRACY)
                                                      A
                                                          K
                                                          K
                                                        S
                                                                O
                                                                O
                                                                O
                                                              F
                            Fact: in December 1927, the US Army raided a number of coastal towns in Massachusetts. The towns no
                          longer exist. Their inhabitants vanished. Fact: in 1947, an unidentifi ed object crashed near a USAF base in
                                       Roswell, New Mexico. Government agents waded in to clear things up. Fact: in November
                                           1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The US Government’s investigation seemed
                                        reluctant. Fact: in the 1960s and 1970s, the Zodiac killer stalked northern California. No
                                         one ever caught him. Still, the killings ended. Fact: in August 1997, Princess Diana’s car
                                                     crashed under mysterious circumstances, killing Diana, its driver and the
                                                                  industrialist she was dating at the time. Was the People’s
                                                                    Princess really the intended victim? You could go back
                                                                                 further. Who shot Abraham Lincoln?
                                                            Conspiracy theorists would have you believe there is a great agen-
                                                         cy behind all of these events. They don’t know for sure, of course.
                                                         Task Force: VALKYRIE knows. They know the truth about Diana
                                                        and the precise location of the Roswell pilot’s grave. They know who
                                                         didn’t shoot Kennedy. And they know about vampires, werewolves,
                                                            demons and ghosts.
                                                                  It began in 1865, when a hastily organized unit of gov-
                                                                 ernment men (led by a man named Gordon West) failed
                                                                    to rescue Abraham Lincoln from the clutches of a
                                                                     creature from outside any human frame of reference.
                                                                      Realizing that for the good of the Union, they had
                                                                                to cover up the President’s death, they
                                                                                           enlisted a look-alike, and
                                                                                            without the hapless
                                                                                            man’s knowledge, hired
                                                                                            John Wilkes Booth to
                                                                                           follow him to the theater
                                                                                           and do the deed before
                                                                                           anyone noticed the dif-
                                                                                          ference. Ever since then,
                                                                                        they’ve been protecting the
                                                                                    US against supernatural agencies
                                                                              and hiding the evidence. They’ve always
                                                                              operated outside the usual structures of
                                                                                 the US government.
                                                                                       They were reformed as Task
                                                                                     Force: VALKYRIE in 1944 by
                                                                                      the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with-
                                                                                      out the President’s knowledge,
                                                                                      when it became apparent that
                                                                                     some prominent Nazis had been
                                                                                     driven to allying themselves with
                                                                                    paranormal entities. Between
                                                                                    June 1944 and April 1945, TFV
                                                                                  joined US and British forces in the
                                                                                 invasion of Europe. Armed with little
                                                                                more than their wits, their fists and

                                                                              their guns, the newly minted task force
                                                                             defeated and captured a cadre of bizarre
                                                                            hermaphrodite Nazi magicians, two packs
                                                                           of man-eating werewolves, dozens of walking
                                                                          dead men of various kinds and more vampires
                                                                         than they suspected could have existed. Half
                                                                       the time, these “extra-normal entities” (ENEs),
                                                                     weren’t fighting for anyone but themselves, but it

                                                                   didn’t matter. They were a threat, and the men of TFV
                                                                                                               147
                                                                                                               147
   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153